Women And Test Drives.

  • Thread starter Thread starter CT
  • Start date Start date
One vote in support of the salesman from me, in the form of my Mum. Mum and Dad have been married for, err, ok it's at least 30 years but it's probably a few more and I really ought to know. In all that time my Mum has test driven precisely 1 car, despite getting a new one (not always new new) every 3-4 years. She did her best to get out of that one too, but it was a sports car (audi TT), and my Dad basically forced her to test drive it in case she hated it.

Then again my Mum is the one who took the lug ole off her current car just the other day when backing out of the garage. She's only done it a few thousand times, more practice required.
 
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Nod said:
... Last time we PXed a car, we were praying they didn't take it for a drive - they just looked at it, checked the docs against the numbers and made sure it was straight. Had they driven it, they would have heard the wheezing of the very tired head gasket and the clacketty clack of the tappets. But I expect it just went to auction to get what they could for it and that we paid enough for what we bought for the PX price to be well covered.
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And there you have it from my real life mate who bought a car from me a couple of months ago ;) ... for every garage customers moan about, every garage can name 100 customers who [successfully or otherwise] consider us fair game! :p

By the way my Nissan mate, families are terribly important, but don't ever be afraid to throw them out of the showroom - like when Tarquin and Jocasta think it's great fun to bounce tennis balls off the bonnets of your brand new stock [soon intended to be someone else's pride and joy] and mummy and daddy are too indulgent to stop them! :nono:
 
Yves Geza said:
And there you have it from my real life mate who bought a car from me a couple of months ago ;) ... for every garage customers moan about, every garage can name 100 customers who [successfully or otherwise] consider us fair game! :p

By the way my Nissan mate, families are terribly important, but don't ever be afraid to throw them out of the showroom - like when Tarquin and Jocasta think it's great fun to bounce tennis balls off the bonnets of your brand new stock [soon intended to be someone else's pride and joy] and mummy and daddy are too indulgent to stop them! :nono:
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:D Little ones are kept an eye but tbf most of ours cars are reasonbaly bullet proof and it's a great selling point "Don't worry they can't brake it, it's a Nissan", if they do get to out of hand me coming out of the office is normally enough to sort them out, can't imagine why :shrug:
 
TheNissanMan said:
I had a family of what could only be described as pikey looking people on the forecourt that noone wanted to speak to, I went up and said Hi and found out they had just inherited a stupid amount of money, they left buying 8 of the most expensive cars we sold, all brand new :D :D :D My sales managers mouth was on the floor when I requested that deal to be approved...
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It pay's to be a little open minded to start with, you can always
throw the bastids out later :thumbs:

Yves Geza said:
... for every garage customers moan about, every garage can name 100 customers who [successfully or otherwise] consider us fair game! :p
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Thats what you are therefore surly, Shirley
( yep I did call you Shirley, surly:p)
I think over the years people feel as though they have been "ripped off" one way or another by car salesmen,
and as "we" get older and wiser
try to get (give) a little payback
Thats my way of thinking :cool:

Yves Geza said:
By the way my Nissan mate, families are terribly important, but don't ever be afraid to throw them out of the showroom - like when Tarquin and Jocasta think it's great fun to bounce tennis balls off the bonnets of your brand new stock [soon intended to be someone else's pride and joy] and mummy and daddy are too indulgent to stop them! :nono:
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Ah yes a good smack around the ear would work wonders :thumbs:
But its not only car showrooms that you see these little brats
young adults "expressing" themselves in is it?
But thats a whole new thread ;)
 
Cant beleive any-one would buy a car with out taking for a drive first.

TheNissanMan said:
I had a family of what could only be described as pikey looking people on the forecourt that noone wanted to speak to, I went up and said Hi and found out they had just inherited a stupid amount of money, they left buying 8 of the most expensive cars we sold, all brand new :D :D :D My sales managers mouth was on the floor when I requested that deal to be approved...
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Had a simular thing from a Ford and BMW dealer myself when looking for a Mondeo, was thinking of an ST, but needed an estate so was between that and a GhiaX, or a BMW 3series. The sales guy wouldnt let me take either off the 2 cars out for test drive without proving funds, as he said a) i was too young, be no-way i could afford it.

Went to another Ford garrage, very helpfull, walked out buying a nice nearly new GhiaX, saw one of the sales guys a week or so later a shopping car park, he reconised me his face was a picture when he relised he lost a good £20K sale.
 
Why would I not test drive a car before I bought it?
Just seems a bit odd to me. No way I would part with that sort of money without getting a feel for it first. :cuckoo:

Although with my last car, I only test drove the same model at my local dealership before getting the actual car I wanted from Birmingham.
The local one only had a fabric interior, while the one in Birmingham was full leather.

:lol: 250 mile round trip for a leather interior :shrug: what can I say? I like leather :naughty: ;)

(and yes they did offer to deliver it, but I wasn't going to pay £500 for them to pick up my old car and drop off the new one when I could do it for under £50)

CT said:
To be fair the dealership is right in town, so you come out of the dealership straight into traffic mayhem, so that could have a lot to do with it I suppose.
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:thinking: That doesn't really explain it for me either. I was straight off the forecourt and into Birmingham traffic, without much idea of where I was going :shrug:

TheNissanMan said:
Can normally tell a good dealership as the sales exec should...

Have a chat about what you want the car for/how you use it to check your looking at the right car
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And that would lose the sale for me straight away.
For my last 3 cars I've known exactly what I wanted - model, interior, exterior, extras.
If somebody started questioning my decision that would be me out the door straight away. I know what I want and that's what I'm having - even if it means a 250 mile drive!!!!

:eek: Does this make me weird?
(or maybe just a little bit scary?)
 
SarahLee said:
Why would I not And that would lose the sale for me straight away.
For my last 3 cars I've known exactly what I wanted - model, interior, exterior, extras.
If somebody started questioning my decision that would be me out the door straight away. I know what I want and that's what I'm having - even if it means a 250 mile drive!!!!

:eek: Does this make me weird?
(or maybe just a little bit scary?)
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Not at all, it makes it a very quick chat lol :)

Not many people know exaclty what they want and those that do may sometimes find a better (well more spec'ed alternative) for the same or similar funds...

The hardest part of the job is when people don't tell us what they want. Had a gent in last week looking at a 4x4 but gave no indication of budget or spec, showed him a couple of cars from 24k down as he really gave no info whatsoever, turned out he wanted a 5k X-Trail, we're not phsycic so does help to have all the cards on the table :)
 
TheNissanMan said:
Not at all, it makes it a very quick chat lol :)

Not many people know exaclty what they want and those that do may sometimes find a better (well more spec'ed alternative) for the same or similar funds...

The hardest part of the job is when people don't tell us what they want. Had a gent in last week looking at a 4x4 but gave no indication of budget or spec, showed him a couple of cars from 24k down as he really gave no info whatsoever, turned out he wanted a 5k X-Trail, we're not phsycic so does help to have all the cards on the table :)
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That's good to know . . . glad I'm not completely strange :)
I've just had some odd looks the last couple of times when I've walked in and said - "I'm interested in this model car, within this budget, with these extras, this colour and this interior - can you find me one?" :lol: :lol: :lol:

I guess that makes me an easy customer in some ways though - and a PITA in others!
 
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My wife has never test driven a car in the 17 years i've known her, she won't even drive when i'm in the car let alone a salesman :D

she's a good driver, but lacks confidence driving with strangers in the car.

she is a bit dippy though, I bought a nearly new renault about 15 years ago, we'd only had it a week, she used to drive it into manchester, the firm she worked for had a lock up garage in some railway arches.

she came home with a big gouge out of one of the back doors

what happened

a van had parked 1/2 way across the door so I couldn't get round, I tried and caught the door.

why didn't you go left instead of right

I don't know they way home that way
 
Ok CT, just to make you happy......
When I bought my brand new Nissan Rogue last year - I got my OH to test drive it for me :lol: We'd only been in Canada a few weeks and I didn't feel confident enough driving on the wrong side of the car or the road with the salesman sat in there too.
I did test drive my previous car though :)
 
Yves Geza said:
And there you have it from my real life mate who bought a car from me a couple of months ago ;) ... for every garage customers moan about, every garage can name 100 customers who [successfully or otherwise] consider us fair game! :p
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Can I point out that Geza was NOT the dealer with whom we did the PX!

I will happily admit that the noises from the engine were a major reason for the car upgrade but we were never asked if it was in perfect running order and the salesman didn't seem to be worried about anything other than the numbers matching the docs and the tidiness of the panels and paint. As I said in my post, I would expect their trade ins to go to a clearing house or auction to realise as much as possible and that the price we paid for the car we bought was padded enough to make anything they got from the trade in a little bonus.
 
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